The policy of requiring current TBF members to renew exclusively through their TBF chapters has been rescinded until the 2011 dual memberships are renewed.

Current FLW members can renew now and save $10, whether they are current TBF members or not. The gold member benefit is required for BFL competitors who, like myself, are not available to attend every Friday evening meeting.

First, a good way to stay informed is to check a good website like greatlakesbass.com, I don’t often read website forums, but many do and they will get in touch when help is needed. You can also sign up for TBF weekly E-news and get news delivered directly from TBF to your email, (click the E-news link on www.bassfederation.com) or …as always, ask your TBF state president, they are your best resource in your state, we talk often and they know what’s going on. So thanks for getting the topic started Eric.

Now let’s talk membership a bit and see if I can help clear it up some:

Eric is correct in that there is a $15 FLW Outdoors Magazine only subscriber membership. These are not for TBF members, nor anyone wishing to fish a tournament of any kind.

SOME TBF members (only) are still able to get the $25 Standard Memberships until Dec 30. BUT, it is only for those TBF members who have a full FLW Membership that expires\expired late in the year (by Dec 30.) You cannot RENEW for this price if you have not expired late in the year. We (TBF and FLW Outdoors) wanted to make sure to offer this to those members so that all TBF members had the opportunity to renew at $25 the same number of times under the past agreement.

All other members of TBF and everyone else pays $35 for full FLW Outdoors membership in 2010, with all the benefits that Eric described, including the Magazines, gold member benefits, FLW member benefits, Fantasy Fishing players advantage and more.

However, the new agreement between TBF and FLW Outdoors has NOT been rescinded. All TBF members now pay their FLW Outdoors members through their home TBF Club roster update once each year. It is what the members have asked for …easy one stop shopping and it is easy to do. All dues are now due Jan 1 each year and expire Dec 31 each year (Both TBF and FLW Outdoors.) There are some FLW Outdoors members who have different expire dates (not many) but you will all be rolled into a Dec 31 expire date next time you renew, so no worries.

The ONLY exception to paying your TBF dues and FLW Outdoors dues through your TBF club update is if you buy a TBF Silver 2 year, Gold 3 year or Platinum 5 year, PREMIUM membership, online at bassfederation.com. TBF Premium membership includes BOTH TBF and FLW Outdoors membership for those lengths (2, 3, 5 years), as well as, deep discounts in the TBF member’s only online store and member services. The higher the level of membership the bigger the discounts, in some cases up to 50% off!

Hope this helps clear it all up and as always just contact any TBF State President or TBF National Office if we can ever help. Good luck next year in your fishing, Merry Christmas to you all and my personal thanks to each of you for all that you do for this industry, never doubt your importance to us all as anglers, we are a very powerful force when we stand together!

Has anyone tried to register for BFLs yet without their card being updated for 2010??

I just sent my dues for our club out this morning so how long will it take for FLW to update my membership so that I can register for the BFLs???...

I completely forgot about BFL registrations but I will try to sign up for LSC online today and see what happens....

The online service let me sign up for the LSC BFL....So obviously my concerns weren't valid..I am pretty sure I had to renew for the 09 last year to register...All is good now though...You don't need a 2010 card to register for 2010..

I also appreciate that TBF Inc. (National board) president Robert Cartlidge took some time to provide us with the correct and accurate information we need to go by to avoid confusion.

He is the source for the partnership agreement between TBF Inc and FLW Outdoors so please go by what he spelled out.

You can buy long term national premium memberships that combine 2, 3 or 5 year TBF Inc (not state) and FLW Outdoors memberships directly from TBF Inc at www.bassfederation.com. If you do, your club president will be able to get the correct additional dues to charge you once it is recorded. Should just be the $25 TBF of Michigan dues at the point.

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Help stop invasive spcies. Don't move fish between unconnected bodies of water. Clean, drain and dry your boat before launching on another water body.Unless clearly stated as such, opinions expressed by Dan Kimmel on this forum are not the opinions or policies of Michigan BASS Nation or TBF of Michigan.

SOME TBF members (only) are still able to get the $25 Standard Memberships until Dec 30. BUT, it is only for those TBF members who have a full FLW Membership that expires\expired late in the year (by Dec 30.) You cannot RENEW for this price if you have not expired late in the year.

Thanks to Robert for taking a moment to join us here at the GLB forum.

The lady I spoke to simply stated that $25 was still an option, but did not mention the complicated restrictions. That's what I deserve for not interrogating her, I suppose.

However, the new agreement between TBF and FLW Outdoors has NOT been rescinded. All TBF members now pay their FLW Outdoors members through their home TBF Club roster update once each year.

I was, of course, referring to the recent policy by FLW which required FLW membership renewals to be done ONLY in conjunction with TBF renewals! That policy led to problems for FLW members who wanted to renew their memberships independently, but were refused, as many of us know. Thankfully, that practice was abolished.

Most of us, including myself, are already aware of the policy requiring that TBF members must also belong to FLW Outdoors. TBF of Michigan has always required its member to belong to both organizations, a policy which I have always supported, but one that was not always required in all other federated states.

The partnership between TBF and FLW and online roster systems are both excellent programs. Thanks to FLW Outdoors, TBF Inc, and every member of both organizations for creating so many worthwhile tournament fishing opportunities.

What am I missing here? 1 year for TBF and FLW memberships are 60.00 but a 5 year membership is 600.00 (750.00 after Jan.1) ? What does the other 450.00 go for?

TBF Inc and FLW Outdoors membership is $50 per year - $15 + $35.

That would be $250 for the memberships. The difference is an additional $350 through 12/31/09 and an additional $500 on/after 1/1/2010.

That difference goes to varying discounts up to 50% or possibly greater on "varying groups of merchants and amounts for things like rental cars, hotels, dining, travel, heath and beauty, online shopping, cruises and more." They say you will save more than your membership on discounts. It would be attractive to persons who will use those services. If you were to use these types of services a number of times per year, you could probably save more than that over the course of the 5 years. Maybe a lot more if you stay a hotels for all of your fishing?

Another option to help out TBF in exchange for the savings for persons who enjoy savings programs.

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Help stop invasive spcies. Don't move fish between unconnected bodies of water. Clean, drain and dry your boat before launching on another water body.Unless clearly stated as such, opinions expressed by Dan Kimmel on this forum are not the opinions or policies of Michigan BASS Nation or TBF of Michigan.

I was, of course, referring to the recent policy by FLW which required FLW membership renewals to be done ONLY in conjunction with TBF renewals! That policy led to problems for FLW members who wanted to renew their memberships independently, but were refused, as many of us know. Thankfully, that practice was abolished.

Abolished? Hardly!

I called FLW Outdoors to renew my membership today and they refused to accept my renewal. I spoke directly with FLW/TBF Programs Manager David Simmons. FLW will be not accepting renewals directly from FLW members who are currently members of TBF. They will begin accepting standalone renewals only after the TBF memberships expire on December 31.

FLW MEMBERSHIPS MUST BE RENEWED THROUGH TBF IF YOU ARE A CURRENT TBF MEMBER, UNLESS YOU WAIT UNTIL JAN 1 OR LATER.